Taken aback by complete strangers walking up to you this summer to shake hands? Well, that’s because they’re back. Candidates on the hustings for a city hall near you.

… Even though local governments in B.C. oversee more than $7 billion in annual spending, some communities may only see one in five voters go out and cast a ballot this November.

What does that mean in real terms? In Vancouver, it meant that less than one in five eligible voters re-elected Gregor Robertson in 2011. In Victoria, less than one in six re-elected Dean Fortin and in Nanaimo, Kamloops and Prince George less than one in seven elected their mayors. Ratios that get worse when it comes to electing councillors and school board trustees. So what are some of the possible factors behind this malaise? …

[In this graphic below, CityHallWatch summarizes main points raised in the commentary. We are facing a crisis in our democracy. Why don’t our mainstream media put these issues on the front pages and top of the news? They should be covering these issues in detail, front page, during this civic election. A failure to do so makes them complicit in this whole picture.]

The commentary by Dermod Travis provides several specific examples from Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, Prince George, Vancouver, and Victoria in B.C., and Regina in Saskatchewan.. Please visit IntegrityBC for the full text (http://www.integritybc.ca/?page_id=5209). Then think about what citizens (you!) can do to fix the system. Continue reading →